Pakistan to execute 12 terrorists

Islamabad, Jul 14 (PTI) Twelve "hardcore terrorists", including nine associated with the Pakistan Taliban, will be executed in Pakistan for killing civilians and troops, the army said today.

Pakistans Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Raheel Sharif today confirmed the death sentences of 12 "hardcore terrorists" awarded capital punishment by military courts.

The special military courts were set up after Peshawar school attack of December 2014 to try terrorists.

Military spokesman Lt Gen Asim Saleem Bajwa said in a statement that the convicts were found guilty of "committing heinous offences relating to terrorism, including killing of civilians, attacking Armed Forces of Pakistan and Law Enforcement Agencies, destruction of schools and communication infrastructure."

He said that nine of them were associated with the banned Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), while three belonged to Lashkar-e-Jhangvi. They were held responsible for separate acts of militancy. The confirmation of death by the army chief removes the last hurdle in the execution of these men.

Pakistan reinstated the death penalty after suffering its deadliest ever extremist attack on a school in the northwest in 2014 that left more than 150 people, mostly children dead. PTI SH NSA

This is unedited, unformatted feed from the Press Trust of India wire.

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